


wait, what?

by highonfeels



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 07:26:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13476603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highonfeels/pseuds/highonfeels
Summary: AU: High Schoolers Jake and Amy“I may be slightly in crush with you,” he repeats, louder than at lunch time.But still not loud enough to overpower the blood rushing through Amy’s ears and the loud pounding of her heart.And so she blurts out the only response she can think of.“No you’re not.”akaAmy Santiago and Jake Peralta are best friends, and of course, she's in love with him. But it's taking her a lot longer to understand that he may also be in love with her.





	wait, what?

**Author's Note:**

> You can never convince me that high school Amy wasn't riddled with insecurities because she didn't really "fit in" even though she was simultaneously a boss-ass bitch. 
> 
> Also, "in crush" is supposed to be a play on "in love" but they're high schoolers you know and idk i thought it would be cute and I hope you all get it because a lot of people who have read this keep pointing it out but ye its supposed to be like that anyways
> 
> PLEASE ENJOY!
> 
> COMMENT AND KUDOS THANK YOU LOVES <3

“I may be slightly in crush with you.”

“What?” Amy looked up from her book and stared across the table, wondering whether she’d heard right.

“I don’t think this canteen sells that soda,” she says, trying to steer the conversation in a direction that seemed more normal and natural and not life-changing or paradigm-altering.

“I hate that soda. Orange Soda is so much better,” she hears Jake say. Rolling her eyes, she tells him that “honestly, they taste exactly the same”, partially because she needs to be right, but mainly because seeing him pout is honestly the most adorable thing ever.

“Come on, let’s go,” she says turning away from Jake and _damn that gorgeous face_ , feeling like maybe her world had righted itself again.

“Righted itself”. Back to the world where she sat idly by, silently envious of the girls that did have the courage to ask Jake out, and wondering why he never seemed to accept any of their proposals. Back to the world where people would ask her how she’s resisted his child-like charm for so long and she just shrugs and says something mildly witty because she can’t bring herself to admit that _no she hasn’t resisted him and wants him more than anything._ Back to a scene that she’s been comfortable with her whole life.

So Amy Santiago just casually refused to believe that she had heard what she had. She knew that there would probably come a day when someone would like her, but she knew it wouldn’t be Jake Peralta. She knew she wasn’t “cool” or “interesting”. She was awkward, and clumsy, and nerdy, and she knew that while those weren’t bad qualities, they just weren’t what boys looked for in girls.

Boys were into the girls that wore cute dresses and did cheerleading and could flirt and tease their way through high school, not so much the ones who wore blazers to make good impressions, and wrote college essays in freshman year, and that too on how color-coded organization could potentially save the world.

And a small part of her was still shocked that Jake was even her friend. He had grown into his lanky and awkward looks, and despite his floppy hair and questionable fashion sense, he was muscular and sturdy and Amy Santiago was in love with him. He was kind, and thoughtful, and was always there for her, no matter what. She had grown to love his childish ways, and idiotic nature, and more importantly, she had grown to learn to quash the butterflies that seemed to flutter around every time he looked her way.  

The latest developments at lunch, however, she was not quite prepared for, and she spent the rest of the school day pushing the words further and further back into her mind, hoping that the matter was resolved. She didn’t think the butterflies would come flying back just that evening.

* * *

 

 “I’m just saying, if they want kids to be interested in the stars and crap, they really should rename these constellations. The Big Dipper can be the Big Vaper, and all the heroes should be named after Nick Jonas or something.”

They’re lying on her bed, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stickers on her ceiling. She’s naming constellations, and Taylor Swift plays from Jake’s phone. Her head is on his shoulder, and she’s laughing so hard she might cry.

Her breath hitches, and she accidentally snorts in laughter, sending both of them into a tumbling fit of giggles on her bed. She can’t even bring herself to be embarrassed in front of him.

She can feel the vibrations of his voice, and thinks about how perfect that moment would be if she could drape her arm on his stomach, turn on her side and close the space between them. As their laughter dies down, she closes her eyes and listens to Jake’s off-key humming to “Enchanted”, and realizes that she could stay in that moment, with her head on his shoulder and his voice running over her skin forever.

Until her head suddenly flops down to the bed, and she realizes the he’s flipped onto his stomach, and is now much too far away from her for her liking.

“What’s up?” she asks, when Jake looks up at her, her voice faltering slightly as she notices the sudden stillness, a stark contrast from his usual hyper, jumpy, “class clown” demeanour.

“Jake? What’s wrong?” She can tell that he’s about to say that its nothing and she hits him with her signature Santiago stare, an so he sighs, shrugs and run his hands through his hair, which is so distracting that she almost doesn’t hear what he says next.

“I need to talk to you.” Her eyes dart back down to his face, pushing the thought of his fingers running through _her_ hair, a look of panic on her face.

“What? What’d I do? Did I do something wrong?”

“No! I just… need to tell you… something.”

“Can you just say it before I die of a heart attack or something because right now you’re scaring me and that’s ju-”

“I may be slightly in crush with you,” he repeats, louder than at lunch time. But still not loud enough to overpower the blood rushing through Amy’s ears and the loud pounding of her heart _._

And so she blurts out the only response she can think of.

“No you’re not.”

She hears a burst of laughter at the other end of her bed.

“What? Yes, I am. How would you even know? What is happening?”

He’s smiling, but it’s a nervous smile, that falters at the end, and becomes a sort of grimace as he hears her next words.

“Is this a dare? Like they did that time I was in 5th grade? And again that time in 8th grade? Did someone pay you? I’ll pay you back?” she rambles, sitting up and looking down at him, just so she could feel slightly in control of this whirlwind.

 “Look, I didn’t want to freak you out. And I’m sorry I just sprung it on you. Probably the effect of Taylor Swift. It’s not even that big of a deal. I just wanted you to know so that if you catch me staring at you or kind of zoning out when you’re talking it’s not because I’m creepy but because all I can think about is how much I’d like to kiss you, or because I think you are absolutely breathtaking so you should just know it’s because I have a slight, teeny tiny crush on you.”

“What?”

“Yeah, look it’s not a big deal it’s not going to affect anything between us and you’re still my friend and we’re still platonic, but there’s just something to keep in mind. I just had to tell you. Just to get it out of my system. But you don’t have to do anything about it. So, we’re cool, yeah?”

And she just sat there. Much too dumbfounded, taken aback, suspicious and above all, absolutely ecstatic to respond or do anything. Mouth agape and slack-jawed, staring distantly at the wall, to the point where she didn’t even notice that Jake had gotten up and put on his shoes, until she heard a soft sniffle before her room door shut with a bang.

She bolts out of bed, and runs downstairs, hoping to catch him in a sort of rom-com moment, but was met with an empty house and knew that if Jake had run home, he was much too fast for her to catch up to, but more importantly, he was very upset.

She’d never been in this situation, where she had to apologize for something. He’d always been the one to make dumb mistakes, and even if she had done something to upset him, he’d show up with chocolate and apologies or forgiveness respectively.  

Which is why she hasn’t talked to him in a week.

Which is also why she was standing here outside his house, seething with anger and frustration and just waiting for him to open your door so she could yell at him for having come and thrown her brain and heart into a disgusting disorganized mess with your stupid magical words.

“Can I come in?”

“Oh, I see you’re talking to me again.”

“I wasn’t ever not talking to you, you’re the one who stormed out.”

“Yeah, because you just stopped responding! For like 10 minutes. I can get the message when it’s that loud and clear.”

“You clearly got the wrong message.”

“I got whatever message you sent.”

“Can I come in? It’s freezing and I have to yell at you and I don’t want to do it in the cold.”

“No,” he says, turning inside, but leaving the door ajar. Amy walks in and takes her designated seat at the kitchen table.

“I’m making hot chocolate. Do you want anything?” he asks, after what seems like hours of awkward silence.

 “Nope, I’m good. But we do have to talk.”

It’s quiet again, until you see him sit on the bar stool at the kitchen island, and finally look you in the eyes.

 “Look, I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s not a big de-”

“YES IT IS! YOU JUST DON’T GET IT BUT YES IT IS.”

“Stop being so emotional about it, Ames, it’s just a crush!”

“YES I KNOW that’s why it matters so much to me! Do you realize that I’ve never ever been told that someone likes me before? Or that I can’t wrap my head around the idea that you might like me? I swear I’m not mad at you, I was just taken aback. I really half expected you to laugh and go ‘just kidding, you just got PUNK’D!’

“You have no clue what it did to me, your stupid words. You have no idea how much I’ve contemplated my existence for the past week and how much I’ve wanted to make you understand that it’s not your fault, but it’s really just mine, and you have to understand that, because it broke my heart into two every time I’d look your way and you’d look away.”

And then there’s just silence.

She can feel him watching her, and she looks up at him, searching the glazed look in his eyes, and trying to figure out why he looked as broken as she felt.

“I think Punk’d was canceled a while back,” he finally says, a small smile on his face.

She smiles at his attempt at making light of the situation, and it’s just one more thing to add to the list of his irresistible qualities.

But if she wasn’t heartbroken before, his next words guaranteed the shattering of her heart into a million pieces.

“I just really like you. For you. And really, I was just expecting you to let me down easy. Why don’t you just let me down easy?”

His eyes meet hers, searching for a moment, as he cradles his mug of hot chocolate, and he lets out a small sigh of resignation. And all Amy can do is stare at him, incredulous, wondering how exactly this boy had yet to figure out that she was crazy about him.

The kitchen is quiet, and as Jake sets his mug on the counter, Amy decides that there’s really only one way for her to convey what she was trying to tell him.

She gets up and before she can lose all courage, walks closer, and closer, and closer to Jake, as fast as she can without running, until she’s so close that if she just tilts her head up slightly, she could slowly lean in, and then, in true Amy Santiago fashion, chicken out and bring her lips to his ear instead, and whisper, as calmly as possible when her heart is beating a million miles an hour, “I don’t know how you think I’d say no.”

And then she turns, attempting a suave, collected and classy exit. But instead, she feels Jake tug on her arm, and she turns back around, crashing into his chest.

“What does that mean?” he asks.

It’s now or never.

_“Just do it. Just tilt your head up a bit and pretend like you’ve done this before,” she thinks._

So she does. She tilts her head up. She leans in. She brushes her lips as softly as possible against his, almost as though it never happened, and turns to walk away again. She’d made her point, and she was definitely no longer in any state of mind to be having conversations. She feels him tug on her arm again, and she groans in frustration.

“Okay seriously, you have got to sto-“

She’s interrupted, by his lips crashing into her, clumsy and reckless and awkward, as all first kisses are meant to be. She surprises herself by responding immediately to the new sensation, running her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer. As she opens her mouth to let him in, she can taste the hot chocolate on her tongue, and decides it's her new favorite flavor in the whole world. They pull away, short of breath, with the widest of smiles on their faces.

“Man, that was so worth the wait,” she breathes, before they’re kissing again, much hungrier and passionate, hands roaming everywhere they should, because that’s the best way to confirm romantic attraction.

He sets her on the dining table, and she wraps her legs around his waist while he sends feverish kisses trailing down her, hands immediately finding the smooth skin under her shirt, eliciting involuntary moans from Amy.

 “I really am in crush with you,” he mumbles against her neck, punctuating each word with a kiss that sends shivers up her spine and waves of pleasure through her entire body.

“That’s good, because I have been for a while too.” She musters, biting her lip at the slight sucking he’s started on the top of her shoulder.

“We should do this more often,” he says, slowly pulling her t-shirt over her head, and trying to tug her pants down.

“Mm we really should,” she moans, fiddling with the zipper on his jeans, and trying to gather her thoughts enough to get his clothes off too.

“We should also really stop before we have sex before we’ve even decided who gets to be the girlfriend and who gets to be the boyfriend,” he jokes, but she knows he’s right. And she knows that they’re right.

So he puts her down, settling on the couch, clothes all half-on, half-off.

“You do want to be my girlfriend right? Because if not, then I’m reading all the signals wrong,” he says, gesturing to her lack of shirt.

“Do you want me to be your girlfriend? Because if not, I should really stop trying to get into your pants,” she says, teasing him back, and also vaguely gesturing to the fact that she was still trying to undo his zipper.

And as Jake pulls Amy into his lap, sending feather-lite kisses along her jaw, and sucking at her collarbone again, while she finally gets his jeans undone, she looks into his eyes, and he looks into hers, both sets darkened with adrenaline and newfound lust.

“Now that that’s settled,” he says, and pull her in for the second of an infinite number of kisses to come.


End file.
